Red Star Line Museum

The Red Star Line Museum stands in historic warehouses in Antwerp’s Het Eilandje district, beside the city’s port. A funnel-shaped tower links the restored buildings with the nearby water and opens views across Antwerp and its harbour.

Inside, personal stories follow emigrants from travel agencies in Warsaw and other European cities to Antwerp, embarkation and the Atlantic crossing. Red Star Line ships carried more than two million passengers towards ports including New York and Philadelphia from the late nineteenth century into the early twentieth century. Six witness stories, photographs, documents and donated objects bring that journey into focus, while the final exhibition connects earlier departures with migration today. The museum also presents temporary exhibitions in the former baggage shed, known as de loods, and offers activities for families and children.

One striking object is a transposing piano once owned by Irving Berlin, who crossed the Atlantic as a young boy. The collection also includes the painting De landverhuizers by Eugène Laermans and more than 5,000 Red Star Line items gathered by former dockworker Robert Vervoort.